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      <p>Hello, and welcome! Wiktionary is a       <a href="/wiki/multilingual" title="multilingual">multilingual</a>
       <a href="/wiki/free" title="free">free</a>
       <a href="/wiki/dictionary" title="dictionary">dictionary</a>
, being written       <a href="/wiki/collaborative" title="collaborative">collaboratively</a>
 on this website by people from around the world.       <a href="/wiki/entry" title="entry">Entries</a>
 may be       <a href="/wiki/Help:How_to_edit_a_page" title="Help:How to edit a page">edited</a>
 by anyone!</p>

      <p>Designed as the lexical companion to       <a class="extiw" href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" title="w:Main Page">Wikipedia</a>
, the encyclopedia project, Wiktionary has grown beyond a standard dictionary and now includes a       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Wikisaurus" title="Wiktionary:Wikisaurus">thesaurus</a>
, a rhyme guide, phrase books, language statistics and extensive appendices. We aim to include not only the definition of a word, but also enough information to really understand it. Thus       <a href="/wiki/etymology" title="etymology">etymologies</a>
, pronunciations, sample quotations, synonyms, antonyms and translations are included.</p>

      <p>Wiktionary is a       <a href="/wiki/wiki" title="wiki">wiki</a>
, which means that you can edit it, and all the content is dual-licensed under both the       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License" title="Wiktionary:Text of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License</a>
 as well as the       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:GNU_Free_Documentation_License" title="Wiktionary:GNU Free Documentation License">GNU Free Documentation License</a>
. Before you contribute, you may wish to read through some of our       <a class="mw-redirect" href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Help" title="Wiktionary:Help">Help</a>
 pages, and bear in mind that we do things quite differently from other wikis. In particular, we have strict       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Entry_layout_explained" title="Wiktionary:Entry layout explained">layout conventions</a>
 and       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Criteria_for_inclusion" title="Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion">inclusion criteria</a>
. Learn how to       <a href="/wiki/Help:Starting_a_new_page" title="Help:Starting a new page">start a page</a>
, how to       <a href="/wiki/Help:How_to_edit_a_page" title="Help:How to edit a page">edit entries</a>
, experiment in the       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Sandbox" title="Wiktionary:Sandbox">sandbox</a>
 and visit our       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Community_Portal" title="Wiktionary:Community Portal">Community Portal</a>
 to see how you can participate in the development of Wiktionary.</p>

      <p>We have created       <b>3,311,698</b>
 articles since starting in       <a href="/wiki/December" title="December">December</a>
, 2002, and we’re growing rapidly.</p>

      <h2>
         <span class="editsection">[         <a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Welcome,_newcomers&amp;action=edit&amp;section=1" title="Edit section: Editing Wiktionary">edit</a>
]</span>
          <span class="mw-headline" id="Editing_Wiktionary">Editing Wiktionary</span>
      </h2>

      <p>People like yourself are very active in building this       <a href="/wiki/project" title="project">project</a>
. While you are reading this, it is likely someone is editing one of our entries. Many       <a href="/wiki/knowledgeable" title="knowledgeable">knowledgeable</a>
 people are already at work, but everybody is       <a href="/wiki/welcome" title="welcome">welcome</a>
!</p>

      <p>Contributing does not require       <a class="external text" href="//en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&amp;type=signup">logging in</a>
, but we would       <a href="/wiki/prefer" title="prefer">prefer</a>
 that you do, as it       <a href="/wiki/facilitate" title="facilitate">facilitates</a>
 the       <a href="/wiki/administration" title="administration">administration</a>
 of this site. (Note that logging in also prevents the       <a href="/wiki/IP" title="IP">IP</a>
 address of your computer from being displayed in the       <a class="external text" href="//en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Welcome,_newcomers&amp;action=history">page history</a>
.)</p>

      <p>You can       <a href="/wiki/dive_in" title="dive in">dive in</a>
 right now and add or alter a definition, add example sentences, or help us to properly format or categorize entries. You can even       <a href="/wiki/Help:Starting_a_new_page" title="Help:Starting a new page">create a page</a>
 for a term we’re missing. Please feel free to       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Be_bold_in_updating_pages" title="Wiktionary:Be bold in updating pages">be bold</a>
 in editing pages!</p>

      <p>How could allowing everyone to edit produce a high‐quality product instead of total disorder? Because most people want to help, and keeping it open to everyone creates the potential for making many good and ever-improving entries. Records are kept of all changes, so even unhelpful edits can easily be       <a href="/wiki/revert" title="revert">reverted</a>
 by other users. To use a now‐famous       <a class="extiw" href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus%27_Law" title="w:Linus' Law">catchphrase</a>
, in essence: “Given enough eyeballs, all errors are shallow.”</p>

      <p>To start out, users might want to use the ‘      <a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="Special:RecentChanges">Recent changes</a>
’ or ‘      <a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Special:Random">Random page</a>
’ link (found in the navigation box elsewhere on this page), to get an idea of the kinds of pages you can find here. (It might be surprising how many non-English words are entered here!)</p>

      <h2>
         <span class="editsection">[         <a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Welcome,_newcomers&amp;action=edit&amp;section=2" title="Edit section: Norms and etiquette">edit</a>
]</span>
          <span class="mw-headline" id="Norms_and_etiquette">Norms and etiquette</span>
      </h2>

      <div class="disambig-see-also-2">
         <i>See also</i>
          <b>
            <a href="/wiki/Help:Interacting_with_humans" title="Help:Interacting with humans">Help:Interacting with humans</a>
         </b>
      </div>

      <p>One important thing you should know is that we have borrowed from our sister project       <a class="extiw" href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/" title="wikipedia:">Wikipedia</a>
 some       <a class="extiw" href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_(sociology)" title="wikipedia:Norm (sociology)">cultural norms</a>
 you should respect:</p>

      <ol>
      <li>We try not to argue pointlessly. This isn’t a debate forum. After       <a href="/wiki/civilized" title="civilized">civilized</a>
 and reasonable discussion, we try to reach broad       <a href="/wiki/consensus" title="consensus">consensus</a>
 in order to present an accurate, neutral summary of all relevant facts for future readers.</li>

      <li>We try to make the entries as unbiased as we can, meaning that definitions or descriptions — even of controversial topics — are not meant to be platforms for preaching of any kind.</li>

      <li>Bear in mind this is a       <i>dictionary</i>
, which means there are many       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:What_Wiktionary_is_not" title="Wiktionary:What Wiktionary is not">things it is not</a>
.</li>

      <li>At any point, if you are uncomfortable changing someone else’s work, and you want to add a thought (or question or comment) about an entry or other page, the place is its       <a class="mw-redirect" href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Talk_page" title="Wiktionary:Talk page">talk page</a>
 (click on the "discussion" tab at the top or the "Discuss this page" link in the sidebar or elsewhere, depending on your preference skin). Note, though, that we try to keep discussion focused on improving this dictionary.</li>

</ol>

      <p>However, there are also some differences between Wikipedia and Wiktionary. If you already have some experience with editing Wikipedia, then you may find our       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Wiktionary_for_Wikipedians" title="Wiktionary:Wiktionary for Wikipedians">guide to Wikipedia users</a>
 useful as a quick introduction.</p>

      <h2>
         <span class="editsection">[         <a href="/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Welcome,_newcomers&amp;action=edit&amp;section=3" title="Edit section: For more information">edit</a>
]</span>
          <span class="mw-headline" id="For_more_information">For more information</span>
      </h2>

      <p>More introductory information and descriptions of community norms are on the following pages:</p>

      <ul>
      <li>
         <a href="/wiki/Help:Starting_a_new_page" title="Help:Starting a new page">How to start a page</a>
      </li>

      <li>
         <a href="/wiki/Help:How_to_edit_a_page" title="Help:How to edit a page">How to edit a page</a>
      </li>

      <li>
         <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Staying_cool_when_the_editing_gets_hot" title="Wiktionary:Staying cool when the editing gets hot">Staying cool when editing gets hot</a>
      </li>

      <li>
         <a href="/wiki/Help:FAQ" title="Help:FAQ">Wiktionary FAQ</a>
      </li>

      <li>
         <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Wiktionary_for_Wikipedians" title="Wiktionary:Wiktionary for Wikipedians">Wiktionary for Wikipedians</a>
      </li>

</ul>

      <p>For more policy and style guidelines or guidance, see our       <a href="/wiki/Wiktionary:Community_Portal" title="Wiktionary:Community Portal">Community Portal</a>
 or       <a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Help:Contents">Help:Contents</a>
.</p>



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